Sep 12, 2018

A broad coalition of more than thirty Minnesota hunting, fishing, conservation and environmental groups--ranging from Ducks Unlimited, the Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance, and the Fish & Wildlife Alliance to Honor the Earth, Renewing the Countryside and our friends at CURE--have sent a letter to the members of the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) asking that they:

not to proceed with approval of any work plans for projects that are proposed to be funded by appropriation bonds approved by the 2018 legislature. The LCCMR members should instead uphold the clear language and intent of the constitutional amendments that have created and continue to support the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF).

Paying for these projects with the twice as expensive appropriation bonds is not fiscally prudent. Appropriation bonds are estimated to more than double the total interest costs on these-projects over what those interest costs would have been if traditional state general obligation bonds were used. Minnesota Management and Budget estimates that the ENRTF would pay $66 million in total interest costs in addition to the $98 million in actual project costs.

Apart from being fiscally unwise, the use of ENRTF monies to back and pay interest on appropriation bonds is in conflict with the Minnesota Constitution. The Minnesota Constitution allows appropriations for “protection, conservation, preservation, and enhancement of the state's air, water, land, fish, wildlife, and other natural resources” but does not state that the ENRTF can be used to pay the interest on appropriation bonds to bond holders.

The use of ENRTF to fund these projects also subverts the clear intent of the constitutional amendments creating and extending the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. Using ENRTF appropriation bonds as a substitute for the general obligation bonds that have traditionally funded these projects flagrantly disregards the laws and agreements that resulted in the establishment of this historic constitutional dedication. Minnesotans voted to approve and amend the ENRTF three times over the last 30 years. In each instance, state statutes were in place that established the allowable uses of the ENRTF funds. These statutes were critical to building the support needed to pass these amendments.

In short, the legislation passed last year isn't fiscally responsible--and it's not constitutional.

With the choices they made about the state's lottery-funded environmental fund, Republicans made a banana-republic-like laughingstock of the appropriation process.

How clever Kurt Daudt and Paul Gazelka are, the Legislature’s head honchos.

Daudt, the Republican House speaker, and Gazelka, the Republican Senate majority leader, waited until the final hours of the recent legislative session to abscond with money from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF).

They succeeded. So far.

Recall that Minnesota voters created the state lottery in 1988 by constitutional amendment with the intent of dedicating a significant portion of proceeds to protect and enhance the environment.

Key to lottery money allocation is the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR), which reviews hundreds of proposals each year before submitting a finalist list to the Legislature to be funded by the ENRTF.

For the session just ended, commission members — 17 in all: five from the House, five from the Senate and seven citizens — had $46 million to allot and proposed funding for 67 projects.

Typically, these appropriations glide through the Legislature. And for good reason. The LCCMR process — the seven citizens are volunteers — is deliberative and time consuming. No one would submit willingly to this work knowing in the end legislators would dramatically alter their recommendations.

But not only that ...

In an unprecedented move and contrary to what Minnesota voters approved when they voted for the lottery, legislators this session cooked up a plan for the ENRTF to pay obligations on bonds the state will issue to fund Republicans’ pet lottery-funded projects.

Until now, lottery money has funded environment projects on a pay-as-you-go basis, which leaves the LCCMR flexible as varying threats and needs arise. Example: Most invasive species that today threaten Minnesota waters weren’t on anyone’s radar in 1988.

Now, if the Legislature gets away with its bonding scheme, the ENRTF will be obligated for years ahead to pay for projects approved this year.

What’s more, by reducing funding for projects from amounts proposed by the LCCMR and wiping out other projects entirely, Republicans made a banana-republic-like laughingstock of the appropriation process. . . .

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